Mochlus simonettai (LANZA, 1979)

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Higher Taxa	Scincidae, Lygosominae (Lygosomini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Simonetta's Writhing Skink
Synonym	Lygosoma simonettai LANZA 1979 Lygosoma simonettai — LANZA 1988: 423
Distribution	Somalia (Afgoi) Type locality: about 6 km E of Afgoi (about 02°06'N, 45°11'E, SE Somalia)
Reproduction
Types	Holotype: MZUF 22245, haf-grown female
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: An apparently medium-sized (body length of the larg- est c:f: 88 mm) Lygosoma (sensu G R E E R , 1977) with: lower eyelid with a large undivided disk; frontoparietals paired; supranasal completely separate from the nasal; supranasals meeting medially; pentadactyle limbs; head black, neck whitish to hazel, trunk and tail dorsally very dark, with close whitish dots in life (brown with dark and light dots in alcohol); tail a little shorter than head+body; 24 to, usually, 26; smooth scales round the body, midway between axilla and groin; 81-86 scales between the 1st pair of chin-shields and the precloacal shields.
Comment	Abundance: this is one of the species called “lost” and “rediscovered” by Lindken et al. 2024.
Etymology	Named afer “my friend and Colleague Prof. Alberto M. Simonetta (1930-2021), a passionate student of Somali wildlife to whom the Zoological Museum of Florence is indebted for some of its finest material.” See Ceccolini 2022 for biographical notes.
References	Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here Ceccolini F. 2022. In memory of Alberto Mario Simonetta (1930-2021). Natural History Sciences, Milano - get paper here Lanza B 1979. Lygosoma simonettai, a new black-headed skink from Somalia (Reptilia Scinidae). Monitore Zoologico Italiano supplemento 12(4) 1979: 25-32 - get paper here Lanza, B. 1990. Amphibians and reptiles of the Somali Democratic Republic: check list and biogeography. Biogeographia, 14: 407-465 [1988] - get paper here Lindken T.; Anderson, C. V., Ariano-Sánchez, D., Barki, G., Biggs, C., Bowles, P., Chaitanya, R., Cronin, D. T., Jähnig, S. C., Jeschke, J. M., Kennerley, R. J., Lacher, T. E. Jr., Luedtke, J. A., Liu, C., Long, B., Mallon, D., Martin, G. M., Meiri, 2024. What factors influence the rediscovery of lost tetrapod species? Global Change Biology, 30: 1-18 - get paper here Spawls, Stephen; Tomáš Mazuch & Abubakr Mohammad 2023. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of North-east Africa. Bloomsbury, 640 pp. - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List Google images

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